Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Six reasons why you should attend Take Back the Night

Take Back the Night is a march and rally held every year in September with the purpose of raising awareness about violence against women.

Every year in Canada approximately 178 women are murdered. As a comparison, 152 members of the Canadian Forces have been killed serving in Afghanistan since 2002. Each received respectful media coverage, as they should have. Yet more women are killed on average each year, often with no public attention at all, than the total of soldiers killed since we joined the Afghan war.

39% of Canadian women have experienced at least one incident of sexual assault since the age of 16, but only 6% reported the crime to the police. The other 94% remain the silent majority. Take Back the Night encourages women to end the silence and speak out about these experiences. If we remain silent, nothing will change.

83% of Canadian women fear walking to their cars in a public garage after dark alone.75% fear waiting for/using public transportation. 60% fear walking alone in their own area. During Take Back the Night we march in the streets to symbolize the right women have to feel safe in public.

Of sexual assaults reported to police in Canada in 2002, 64% took place in a residence, 26% in a public place, and 11% in commercial places. Because so many assaults happen in the home, they are invisible to the public and thus easily ignored. Take Back the Night is important because it brings a private issue out into the public.

During a 12 month period between 2007 and 2008, 61,690 women were admitted to one of 569 shelters across Canada. 75% of women seeking refuge in a shelter are escaping abuse, but only 25% report the abuse.

Violence against women does NOT just affect the woman – it impacts the entire society. The social and economic costs of violence against women are enormous and have ripple effects throughout society. Women may suffer isolation, inability to work, loss of wages, lack of participation in regular activities, and limited ability to care for themselves and their children. Their children, family and friends also suffer in immeasurable ways.